Various kinds of applicators are used for styptic or cosmetic purposes such as the wooden stick on one end of which a cotton wad in the form of a little bud, is mounted. This cottonbud stick is used to absorb or remove unwanted fluids or materials such as water, pus, plasma or blood, or wax from the ear. It is also known to apply medicaments or cosmetics by dipping the stick bud in a solution and then apply it onto the area to be treated. These cotton-bud sticks can be packaged sterile in air-tight and moisture-tight packages. A disadvantage of these sticks is however that they can not be used for application of rather small doses of an active substance such as for instance a few milligrams only. Therefore only a rough dosage of for instance one or two drops of the solution can be delivered. This is natural as the substances applied on the cotton bud are either in the dry state and have to be immerced in a liquid such as water for being dissolved before application, or in the liquid state packaged in a moisture-tight package, and in either case the amount of the substance which can be obtained from the cotton wad depends on the amount of water present at that particular time. When the moist cotton stick is packaged and stored for a long time, the amount of water is expected to decrease and subsequently the amount of the substance which can be obtained is much less compared to freshly prepared one. Therefore the amount of the active substance that can be transferred from the cotton bud to the body tissue depends on the amount of the water present, and consequently, the amount of the substance delivered varies accordingly, whereby correct doses and especially smaller doses would be impossible to obtain.
A further disadvantage of sticks with cotton buds is that the cotton fibres are liable to get loose and by touching the body tissues may fall off into the tissue. This is very objectionable especially during operations such as operations on the eye.
Another disadvantage is that the active substance may react with either the wooden stick or the cotton fibres, whereby the chemical properties of the substance may change and unwanted by-products may probably be produced at such reactions.
As mentioned above, styptic sticks are already known, and used for styptic purposes. At one end of a disposable styptic stick or strip, a water soluble styptic substance such as alum is applied by repeated dipping in a solution of the substance until a small ball or pellet of the styptic material is formed. By using such styptic sticks, the ball is dipped in water and applied immediately onto the bleeding spot in order to stop the bleeding. The stick thereafter is discarded.
A similar disadvantage as of the cotton-bud sticks is that the dose delivered by the styptic stick is uncontrollable because the amount of styptic material dissolved is not always the same. The delivery of rather small or more accurate doses which is one aim of this invention can not be accomplished either by the cotton-bud sticks or by the styptic sticks.
At most applicators of the kind referred to a preservative must be added to the active substance to minimize the oxidative processes and to prolong the shelf-life of the applicator. The addition of preservatives to the medicaments is however a disadvantage because of the danger of sensitization of the body to the preservative substances, or the danger of their direct toxic effects on the tissues. This disadvantage is present not only at the above mentioned moist cotton-bud sticks but also at almost all medical solutions which are not selfsterilizing, such as eye-drops, nose-drops etc.
A very common method of drug administration is the topical direct application of the medicament in solution form on the skin and mucous membrances, into the eye, nose, throat or vagina etc. The hitherto most common method to apply such medicaments has been to drop a solution of the medicament directly onto the application spot. This is efficient, but the instillation of eye-drops usually provokes tearing reflexes due to the known smarting pain caused by the drops. This in turn causes an increased tear flow and consequently a dilution of the medicament applied. Due to the reflex pain the patient will furthermore screw up his eyes so that the eye-drops and the tears run outside the eye whereby the quantity of the applied substance remaining in the eye is much less and the doses hereby become quite uncontrollable and hence the effect of the medication is uncertain and of very short duration. Another disadvantage by using the conventional eye-drops is that there is always risk for contamination. At surgical operations on the eye it is for instance a requirement to use active substances without addition of preservatives, which means that it is necessary at such operations to use freshly prepared eye-drops because of their short shelf-life. It is very difficult to keep medicaments sterile in solution and at an investigation there has even been found bacteria in new unopened eye-drops bottles. Contamination of the eyedrops even by non-pathogenic bacteria may cause a change in the pH-value of the solution and as a result of this an unfavourable change of the medicament will occur. Bacterial end-products would be formed, which also can be irritating for the body tissue, e.g. the eyes.